


Frame Thy Fearful Symmetry

by Jemi



Category: Alice: Madness Returns, American McGee's Alice
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Daemons, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-17 16:33:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1394572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemi/pseuds/Jemi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The confrontation at Moorgate Station -- with daemons</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frame Thy Fearful Symmetry

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Alice: Madness Returns within.
> 
> Warnings/Triggers: implied rape, character death and a mention of blood.
> 
> None of the characters or dialogue belong to me, save for the concepts of Xerxes and Amarantha and the title comes from William Blake's Tyger, Tyger. Because Alice's daemon is a tiger. I'm extremely clever.

_"You’re lost. And where your body is your mind will follow, perhaps it’s already there."_    
  
The Dollmaker’s voice echoes through the twisted caverns of her mind, ceasing only when Alice’s eyes open, not onto the rickety dankness of the Dollhouse cellars, but a London street, with Houndsditch looming over her head and…   
  
 _Xerxes_.   
  
Without another thought, her hand shoots out, brushing with merciful alacrity against dingy white fur only a foot or so away. In this realm, her tiger daemon is a far cry from the muscular, enormous beast that strides by her side in Wonderland, instead assuming a state far more closer to his human’s, thin and battered by life itself. Compared to the scrawny cats and dogs and rodents that accompany the other residents of Whitechapel, though, he’s still an impressive sight to behold.   
  
Her fingers have only a moment to graze across his fur before he, too, wakes, massive head turning to meet the eyes of his human. And, in that moment, everything comes rushing back, everything that was once lost in the fog of unnatural forgetfulness and now clearer than any bell there ever was. The fire, their memories, the children, the destruction of their once-magnificent fantasy realm, their  _madness_  itself, all the fault of one man and his absolutely odious stoat daemon.   
  
Xerxes snarls then, his eyes flashing as he leaps to his paws, Alice not far behind in picking herself up from the ground. As he shakes the layer of snow from his fur, fury coursing across the bond connecting every human and their daemon, she looks quickly around. There’s nothing but silence hanging in the air, odd for the city, but not entirely unheard of. She highly doubts, however, that the ghostly spectres of children with numbers ‘round their necks and their silvery daemons fluttering from shape to shape beside them are common, and her fingers tighten in Xerxes’ ruff.   
  
 _Pay them no mind. We’ve something more important to attend too._    
  
It’s communicated more through feeling than actual words, but Alice is quite used to it. Forcing her fingers loose, she slips out of the alleyway, Xerxes prowling behind, a livewire of tension and rage. Every though in their heads is  _Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie_  and Bronwyn, poor  _Bronwyn_ , forced to endure Aramantha’s greedy little paws and…no. No, she won’t even  _begin_  to imagine that monster’s hands anywhere near her sister’s beautiful stag daemon. Her own rumbles his agreement savagely as they make for Moorgate Station, which is belching smoke and ash into the snowy night air.   
  
There was a time when it would have made her hesitate and perhaps even flee, but with her daemon by her side, Alice strides right through, barely even acknowledging the lack of burning as they pass into the inner workings of the Underground.   
  
"You oozing sore of depravity!" Alice snarls as the figure of Angus Bumby comes into her view, Aramantha clinging to his shoulders. "Children wearing their names around their necks, as if they’re breeding livestock!" Beside her, Xerxes tail lashes, but he remains surprisingly silent, a hateful gleam in his eyes as he watches the other daemon.   
  
The doctor turns, his eyes briefly narrowing. “A declaration of their pedigree,” he retorts coolly, oddly collected, Alice notices, for someone who’s just had his secrets exposed to the very person he’d been trying to keep them from. Even Aramantha doesn’t betray anything but cool smugness, her lips pulling back in a sharp-toothed grin “You could use one, they’re proud to display their provenance.”   
  
And he  _laughs_ , the bastard has the audacity to  _laugh_.   
  
Xerxes bares his teeth in a silent snarl, tensely coiled by his person’s side, his claws digging under the brickwork under their feet. “You brute!” Alice’s voice wavers for just a moment, “they can’t remember who they are or where they’re from. How many minds have you twisted into forgetfulness?”   
  
"Not enough," Aramantha spits derisively from her perch, though her gaze is focused more on Xerxes than Alice. Perhaps if the latter were being more observant, she’d notice the way her paws nervously twist in her human’s coat for just a moment. Alice herself is no threat, but her daemon will certainly be trouble, should he move against them.   
  
Bumby’s gaze too flickers to Xerxes, but his own confidence is less of a sham than his daemons. “Yours would have been a triumph. Still, you’re an insane wreck. My work is done.”   
  
A snarl finally bursts free from Xerxes’ chest, but Alice rests a trembling hand on her daemon’s ruff.  _Wait_ , she whispers over their bond, and the sound dies slowly to a steady rumble as her daemon’s fur stands on end.   
  
Her voice is far steadier this time, far more determined and  _strong_ , very nearly the way she’d feel should this encounter be taking place in Wonderland. “You’ve used me, and abused me,” she snaps, “but you will not destroy me!”   
  
"No?" Bumby gives her a patronizing look that only makes her fists clench harder, drawing little crescents of blood against her palms. "The damage is done," he continues, arms folding across his chest, "the old Alice and her Wonderland retreat are demolished. You can’t even recognize what’s happened, and you’re powerless to change it or move against me."   
  
From his shoulder, Aramantha draws her lips back once more for another unpleasant mockery of a grin. “We’ve made certain of that.”   
  
"You corrupted my memories," Alice steps forward as best she can, drawing herself up while her hand remains in her daemon’s fur, "but you failed to make me forget."   
  
The look he gives her is nearly enough to make her sick and her fingers clench Xerxes’ ruff, drawing a quick breath. “I could’ve made you into a tasty bit. Clients out the door waiting for a piece from a raving delusional beauty, with no memory of the past, or no sense of the future,” he says lowly, and Alice backs away, shaking with rage at the hungry look in his eyes.   
  
 _They won’t_  dare, Xerxes’s snarl resonates in her mind, his eyes narrowing as they fall once more on Aramantha.   
  
"But you wouldn’t forget," he continues on, leaving Alice to be sickened all the more by the  _remorse_  in his voice and in his daemon’s eyes as she watches Xerxes. “You insisted on holding on to your fantasies. You’re both  _mad_. Like your sister and hers.”   
  
” _Don’t speak of them!_  You didn’t know them!” How  _dare_  he speak of her sister, after what he had done to her and Bronwyn, he had no right!   
  
Bumby’s voice took on a tone of intense distaste. “They were  _teases_. Pretended to despite us.”   
  
It’s his daemon that strikes the proper chord, though, baring her teeth still. “They got what they wanted, in the end.”   
  
Horror washes over both of Alice and Xerxes, sizzling across their bond as Alice’s grip on her daemon tightens all the more.  _And that noise wasn’t Lizzie talking in her sleep_ , the Queen hisses in their minds, as nausea threatens to consume both of them. This…monster in the form of a human and daemon  _violating_  Lizzie and Bronwyn…the notion along was almost enough to unhinge them completely.   
  
But, they can’t back down now.   
  
"I’ll see you charged," Alice grinds out shakily, Xerxes’ growl rising in volume by her side. "In prison, some half-wit bruiser will make you his sweetheart and then you’ll  _hang!_ "   
  
"Indeed?" Totally unruffled, the doctor and his daemon exchange a look, and the latter even has the gall to scoff before her human speaks again. "A hysterical woman, former lunatic, and her rather notoriously  _violent_  daemon roaring outrageous accusations against a respectable social architect and scientist. My god, Alice, who would believe you?”   
  
"I scarcely believe it myself." Aramantha pipes up smugly, stretched comfortably across Bumby’s shoulders.   
  
"You monstrous creature," a rumbling voice suddenly cuts in before Alice can return, and all eyes are immediately drawn to Xerxes. Even his person is surprised, through her fury, but it’s only a brief flicker across her face before she returns her attention back to her antagonizer, allowing her daemon to speak. "Such evil will be  _punished_.”   
  
Although caught off guard by Alice’s normally silent daemon decided to speak, Bumby and Aramantha compose themselves after only a moment, even managing to sound condescending. “By whom? By what? Psychotic, silly bitch. Your  _madness_  will be punished. Now, leave. I’m expecting your replacement” he retorts, reaching into his coat and withdrawing his pocket watch, from which dangles a key.   
  
 _Lizzie’s key_.   
  
Shaking with silent fury, Alice finally releases her daemon to stride forward without even bothering to think and snatching at the violation of her sister that had been dangling before her eyes for  _this long_  without her even realizing it. The links, rusty and weak, shatter easily and Bumby draws back, clearly more surprised at her gall than anything else. Turning on her heel, she starts towards the door to the outside world, but pauses, familiar blue butterflies swirling in her line of vision.   
  
When she and Xerxes turn back to face Bumby and Aramantha, they’ve changed. They’re strong. Powerful. And, despite their tranquility, there’s pure  _vengeance_  in their identical eyes.   
  
The stoat daemon practically shrieks in fear, attempting to skitter to her human’s hat as they pair stride towards them, but only ending up on the stone floor for all her efforts. And, as Alice strides forward to end this once and for all, shoving the  _good doctor_  into the oncoming train, Xerxes has no trouble catching her between his claws, snapping the delicate bones of her neck with a mere twist in the right direction.   
  
All they feel as they watch the train cars rush by is a distinct disappointment that daemon’s don’t bleed.


End file.
